Spotlight for Recruiting Professionals
We hear a lot about predictive analytics—or “big data” analytics—but how prevalent is its use among employers within their college recruiting function?
It turns out that the use of predictive analytics was uncommon among employers responding to NACE’s 2017 Recruiting Benchmarks Survey; just 17.9 percent reported employing this tool. However, an additional 19.6 percent indicated they will make use of predictive analytics in the near future.
This is not surprising as, even among employers that reported using predictive analytics for recruiting, implementation was fairly new, with 48.7 percent using predictive analytics for just a year. Slightly fewer (35.9 percent) reported use for more than three years and 15.4 percent said they have been using predictive analytics for two to three years.
Use was significantly more common among employers from larger companies. (See Figure 1.) More than one-quarter of employers with more than 10,000 employees tapped into “big data” to support their college recruiting efforts.
The main uses of predictive analytics for recruiting were to identify target schools (78.9 percent) and project talent acquisition needs for the future (63.2 percent). (See Figure 2.)
Data collection for NACE’s 2017 Recruiting Benchmarks Survey Report took place from July 19, 2017, to August 1, 2017; 301 firms participated. An executive summary is available on the NACE website. The full report is available to those at participating organizations through MyNACE > Research Reports.
Figure 1: Use of Predictive Analytics, by Company Size
| Company Size |
Yes |
No |
No, but Will Employ in Near Future |
| Less than 1,000 |
14.8% |
74.1% |
11.1% |
| 1,000-2,500 |
4.5% |
90.9% |
4.5% |
| 2,501-5,000 |
2.6% |
76.3% |
21.1% |
| 5,001-10,000 |
20.0% |
51.4% |
28.6% |
| 10,001-20,000 |
26.5% |
58.8% |
14.7% |
| More than 20,000 |
26.5% |
48.5% |
25.0% |
Source: 2017 Recruiting Benchmarks Survey Report, National Association of Colleges and Employers
Figure 2: Use of Predictive Analytics in the Recruiting Process
| Use |
% of Responses |
| Identify target schools |
78.9% |
| Project talent acquisition needs for the future |
63.2% |
| Select individual candidates as potential hires |
44.7% |
| Identify specific academic majors |
34.2% |
| Determine which candidates will be offered a position |
21.1% |
| Customize content of job postings |
18.4% |
Source: 2017 Recruiting Benchmarks Survey Report, National Association of Colleges and Employers